Shota Arveladze: Hull City sack head coach just hours before Luton game

Shota Arveladze leaves with Hull in 20th place, with 11 points from 10 games

Hull City have sacked head coach Shota Arveladze after a run of four successive defeats.

The Georgian was appointed in January and guided the Tigers to safety and a 19th-place finish in the Championship.

But they are currently 20th in the table, with only three wins from 10 games, and chairman Acun Ilicali said their views "weren't aligned".

The decision was announced just hours before the Tigers play Luton Town, with Andy Dawson named interim head coach.

Assistant head coach Peter van der Veen has also left the club with immediate effect.

Speaking to BBC Radio Humberside, Ilicali said: "Shota is my friend, we've been friends for 15 years, but of course in football there are different ideas.

"We saw in the past three weeks there were some differences and I hoped the international break would reduce these differences. When we came back there was a difference so big with our coach that it wasn't possible to be on the same page.

"He has his own mind. For example, for me, football is just a kind of sport that has to entertain people. In order to entertain people you have to play positive football. Our coach has some very correct points, for example half of the squad is injured but at the end of the day, the team and I are dreaming of something else."

The 49-year-old former Rangers and Ajax striker took over after Grant McCann was sacked following the club's takeover by the Turkey-based Acun Medya Group.

Arveladze's coaching CV includes stints in the Netherlands, Israel, Uzbekistan and Turkey, where he first met Ilicali.

He enjoyed a distinguished playing career, including 26 goals in 61 internationals and was part of league title-winning sides in Scotland, the Netherlands and in his home country, with Dinamo Tbilisi.

He moved into coaching with AZ Alkmaar, where he served as assistant to Louis van Gaal, Ronald Koeman and Dick Advocaat, before taking on his first head coach role with Turkish side Kayserispor in August 2010.

Further jobs at Kasimpasa, former club Trabzonspor and Maccabi Tel Aviv followed, although his only silverware came with Uzbek side Pakhtakor Tashkent, where he won back-to-back league and cup doubles in 2018-19 and 2019-20 before departing in December 2020.

Hull began the season with seven points from their first three games, but they were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by League Two side Bradford City and have not won in the league since beating Coventry City 3-2 on 27 August.

Analysis - 'Timing more surprising than announcement'

BBC Radio Humberside sports reporter Ollie Turner

The timing of Shota Arveladze's departure - just hours before the match at home to Luton Town - is perhaps more surprising than the announcement itself.

Reports had suggested that he'd been given more time following a meeting with owner Acun Ilicali after their 3-0 defeat at Swansea City in his final game in charge.

However, the Hull City manager denied that happened earlier this week and also avoided questions as to whether he had the next two matches, or even this evening's game, to save his job.

But maybe the writing was already on the wall following the calamitous nature of the goals conceded in south Wales and a result that made it no goals in three, four straight defeats and having conceded at least twice in their last six games.

• Why did Sala's plane never arrive? Follow the investigation into the fatal crash

• Sue Barker's life on and off the court: Lauren Laverne chats to the legendary tennis player and presenter